


How Credence healed

by lonely_night



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: And Lots of It, Credence has nightmares, Don't Judge Me, Fluff, Grindlewald/Graves is a nasty peice of work, I had a nightmare the other day, M/M, What did Dumbledore see in him?!!, Yes I am normally like this, it was very strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9123784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonely_night/pseuds/lonely_night
Summary: Newt finds Creedence Barebone very much alive in an alleyway in New York. This is how he heals him.





	1. Chapter 1

Credence glanced up at Mr. Graves.   
"Oh Credence, dear boy, won't you let me repay you for everything you're doing for me," the older man didn't say it as a question, Graves knew what he wanted and he was going to take it.  
Fear lodged itself in the pit of his stomach. Credence didn't know what Graves was going to do; he was so unpredictable and sometimes that did scare him. But Mr. Graves' eyes had such a spark in them of ... was that lust? Desire? For him?  
"You're such a beautiful boy, Credence," murmured Graves, his eyes locked on his lips. Credence swallowed. He loved it when Graves called him special, perfect, beautiful. It made him feel wanted, useful to someone.   
Graves smiled at him, but the smile was a little sinister, the smile of a predator about to claim its prey.  
But then Graves grabbed his chin and stared into his eyes.   
In his nervousness, Credence licked his lips desperately. Graves seemed to take this as an invitation and closed the distance between them by yanking Credence closer to him by his hair and it was painful and reminded him of his Ma. What would she say? Vile. An abomination. Spawn of the devil. The devil himself.   
And Credence felt scared and guilty and he was about to pull away when Mr. Graves slid a hand along his leg and pressed his lips to his. And oh, oh, oh, it felt so good. Credence couldn't believe he'd gone on this long in his life without having someone touch him like this. It felt amazing. All his fear drifted away and his head span at how everything felt as Mr. Graves put his arm on Credence's arm and ran his hand along it. And Credence felt goosebumps as he moaned.  
And then, out of the corner of his left eye he saw... no, it couldn't be. His Ma staring at him in shock and disgust, a sneer creeping over her face. And then Graves grabbed him more tightly, so tight that it began to hurt, blocking his view of Ma. The older man broke the kiss and threw him down onto the bed next to them. Credence tried to tell him to stop, that it was too fast, that it was overwhelming him, that he thought he might have seen his... his Ma.   
But all that came out was a moan of pleasure and want as Graves undid his flies.

Later, when he walked slowly back to the house to face his Ma who he was now completely sure had been watching him, the paranoia and worry crept in and clouded his thoughts.  
His opened the door to the house as quietly as could but to no avail, she was waiting for him.  
She looked him dead in the eye and whispered, "take... off... your...BELT," she shouted the last word as if it had been ripped from her and he knew this time that she meant to inflict such an injury upon him that she might even kill him. Credence couldn't stop however, he obeyed. He was the spawn of the devil. He was wrong and sick and twisted. It wasn't what he deserved. He deserved much worse.  
His fingers trembled and shook as he removed the belt from around his waist and handed it to her. She beat him soundly and then ordered the other children to come downstairs. Of course, they came quickly, she had commanded it. His Ma arranged the children in an orderly line in front of her, and then she ordered Credence to stand at the front of them all and to strip naked. Credence did what he was told, his face burning with shame. But it was what he deserved.  
She ordered one of the other children to remove their belt. A boy did so and handed it to her. And then she took both belts in each hand and slapped them on his back and neck. The pain ripped through him, twice as bad and with double the force. He could feel the blood trickling down his back and down his bare legs.  
And then she stopped. And didn't hit him with the belt for a full 10 seconds. This scared Credence more than anything and he cowered in front of the other children who all just stared at him, no emotion showing. It was as if his Ma had wiped all these young children of any feeling. That was perhaps the cruelest thing.  
Then Ma spoke in his ear, "here you are, Devil son," she handed him one of the whips, "whip yourself on your legs with this."  
Shakily, Credence took the whip from her and sat down in the chair she offered him. "Lean back," she said harshly, and so Credence did, the pain of the fresh cuts on his back burned with even more ferocity, if that was even possible, and the tears clouded his vision.  
"Go on, boy."  
Credence obeyed her and raised his belt, cracking it down upon his legs with a force that surprised even himself. This was how much he wanted to hurt himself. He was wrong and disgusting. Maybe this would begin to purge the evil from him but he highly doubted it.  
His Ma began whipping him again on the neck. Then she moved and began hitting his chest with the belt.   
When Credence knew he was going to pass out, she stopped. Ma took his wrist as he hit his legs and steered his belt towards what Grindlewald had had in his mouth a couple of hours before, and he hit himself with such anger that he no longer heard anything or saw anything and everything faded away into pain and pain and pain.

He awoke.  
The alleyway was dark, so dark, pitch black. But that was what Credence needed. The memory of the dream was still hauntingly clear, worse still the fact that it was real, happened.  
Credence wondered why he was awake. Why couldn't he just stay asleep forever and ever.   
And then he heard a noise in front of him and, straining his eyes, he could make out the silhouette of a man. It was Grindlewald, back to claim him. The terror leapt in his heart and he gasped in fright.

But then a man who didn't look at all like Grindlewald walked out of the shadows and appeared in front of him, crouched so that he was at the same height as Credence, not to threaten him.  
The man was wearing a beautiful blue coat and had a mass of reddish hair and a lot of freckles. A slight smile was tugging at his lips, although his look of concern was shown plainly on his face.  
Credence remembered the odd but good-looking man from somewhere... only he couldn't quite remember where.  
The man spoke, "Credence, do you remember me?"  
He had a very soft, soothing voice that made Credence relax just a little bit.  
"I'm a friend of Tina Goldstein's, my name is Newt Scamander, I was at the station with you."  
And then suddenly Credence did remember. Vividly. He remembered the pain that this man had gone through, been electrocuted again and again just because he was trying to help, trying to save him.  
"Will you let me help you?" Mr. Scamander asked gently.  
"Y-You can't," said Credence rather flatly.  
Mr. Scamander frowned, "yes, Credence, I can. I've met an obscurial before."  
Credence's eyes widened in surprise. If this man could take away just a little bit of his pain... oh but he would endanger him.   
But he had nothing left. Surely, reasoned Credence, it was worth a try.  
"Would you let me help you?" Mr. Scamander asked again gently. Gently. No one had ever asked him anything in a gentle way. No one had ever said anything to him in a gentle way.  
"Yes, S-S-Sir," Credence whispered.  
A smile broke out onto Newt's face and it was like the sun behind a cloud. 'It was beautiful' Credence thought.  
"For this part, you're going to have to trust me Credence, would you mind taking my hand?"  
Frowning slightly, worry etched on his face, as well as confusion, Credence took the hand offered to him by Newt.

The next second all he knew was blackness and a horrible but not unfamiliar feeling of being squeezed very tightly, of being forced into himself. But just before he thought he might explode, the feeling suddenly stopped, and Credence found himself back on his own two crippled feet.  
He swayed unsteadily and the whole room moved with him. Credence felt like he was going to be sick. Then suddenly, before he was aware of what was happening, he was falling, falling, falling to the floor in one dizzying moment.  
But then he wasn't. Because he could feel arms around his waist, carefully pulling him upright.  
"I'm s-sorry," he stuttered as soon as he realised it was Newt.  
"Oh there's no need to be- apparating for the first time always has that affect on a person," said Newt, quite cheerfully, righting Credence.  
Newt still had his arms wrapped around his waist. It felt very pleasant. It was a feeling that Credence longed for.   
Devil! Disgusting!

Newt also realised he still had his arms around his waist, "oh um," he stammered, before clearing his throat and removing his hands, "We'll just let Tina and Queenie know that you're here, come on."  
Credence followed him, feeling a little lost but also shocked by this man's inexplicable kindness.

Tina Goldstein turned around immediately from her newspaper when they entered the room. Her shock was very obvious on her face and her mouth was slightly open.  
"Credence...?" She asked in disbelief, "I thought you were dead."  
Credence didn't know what to say to that so he looked at the floor, waiting for the blows to come raining down upon him. They didn't come, and instead he heard a different, friendly, cheerful voice.  
"Oh hello there, I'm Queenie, dear."  
The woman who spoke had beautiful blonde hair and a bright, sunny smile.  
Credence tried to make an effort, "H-hello," he whispered, looking slightly past Queenie and not meeting her eyes.

Just then, a clock chimed.  
Credence jumped and cowered in shock. "It's alright Credence, it's just the clock," soothed Newt, right at his side in a moment.  
Tina blinked in shock at the time, "I'm terribly sorry, it's incredibly late, I'll make you up a bed, Credence," and she went bustling off with Queenie into the other spare room.  
Credence simply looked helplessly at the retreating backs of the women. He didn't deserve this.

A couple of minutes later Tina and Queenie walked out of the room. "Right, well that should do it!" beamed Queenie, tucking away her wand.  
"I hope you are comfortable in there Credence, anything you need, don't hesitate to shout us," said Tina smiling.

Credence walked into the room. It was lovely. He quickly changed into the pyjamas that had been set out for him and slipped under the sheets. All the kindness was overwhelming.  
Before he had time to dwell on it however, there was a knock on the door and Newt walked quietly into the room and perched on to the end of his bed.  
"Is there anything you need, Credence?"

And for a moment Credence forgot he was with Newt, forgot he was safe.  
All he heard was Mr. Graves' voice whispering aggressively into his ear "is there anything you need, Credence?"  
And he said his name like a sneer, violently and cruelly.  
He remembers the cold feeling of the wall as he was pushed against it, "anything you want, Credence?" Graves repeated again, this time somewhat seductively.

Credence's cheeks burn and it is the feeling of heat that brings him back to the present, back to Newt.  
And he realises there is something he wants. More than anything.

"Um Mr. Scamander-"  
"Call me Newt," Newt said brightly.  
"N-Newt... c-could you... erm... would you m-mind if... erm..." he trailed off and, feeling like a fool, looked dejectedly down at the floor.  
"Anything, Credence, I will do anything," replied Newt.  
He sounded honest and oh so kind. Credence didn't deserve this. How long was it until Newt got bored of him, like Graves had.  
But, he reasoned, it was worth a try.  
"Would y-you... would you stay with m-me?"  
Newt looked slightly surprised and Credence flinched, the blow was going to come any second now. His fingers itched to remove his belt and give it to Newt.  
But what happened next was, for Credence, entirely unexpected.  
"Of course," Newt replied, his face breaking into a smile, a wave of sunshine sweeping across his features.  
Credence gasped in shock and stared at Newt before realising that he was in fact genuine. He lay back in the bed, revelling in the warm, clean sheets.  
After a couple of moments of him lying still, Credence felt Newt's hand, as soft and as light as a feather, gently, carefully, stroking his face. The pleasure and calm that he felt made him want to cry, but he didn't because he couldn't cry in front of Newt.  
Newt himself was slumped slightly with his head resting on the headboard -near to Credence's head. Newt knew he'd have terrible back pain when he woke up but he didn't care. He only cared about Credence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Credence has a nightmare and Newt tries to comfort him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to write up!   
> I've had quite a stressful, and frankly an absolutely awful week so sorry about this! :)  
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated.

__

Newt sighed.  
What had they done to the young man to make him like this? To make him so nervous and so scared?  
Credence's face was very soft and seemed to ripple under his own slightly calloused fingers. The man was extremely beautiful and Newt couldn't keep his eyes off him. His eyes wandered across Credence's sleeping face and a great sense of peace settled over him. Very quickly, the tranquility lured him to close his eyes and he fell asleep.

About an hour later, Newt awoke.  
Newt frowned, wondering why he was awake when he was sleeping so peacefully not long before.  
He looked across to his left for Credence and he saw him tossing and turning desperately. Credence was still asleep but his face was full of a look of terror.  
Newt could see the silver trace of a tear slipping down his soft cheek. Newt's heart broke slightly at the sight.   
And then Credence's tossing and turning turned to thrashing. The young man screamed in fright at the air.   
Newt stared at Credence who was desperately trying to break out his nightmare.  
Newt knew how bad his nightmares could get and how much he often wished he could break out of them, however, if his nightmares were bad then he dreaded to know what Credence's were about.  
"Credence wake up!" Gasped Newt, knowing that Credence wanted to stop the nightmare.  
Credence didn't react to Newt's desperate pleading, he was too deep into the dream now.

Then, Credence's screaming began to take the form of actual words, and... it seemed to Newt that the tone of Credence's voice was becoming like... begging.  
"Graves... no, I-" Credence groaned, with a note of pleading in his voice.   
Newt felt terrified for the young man and started shaking him gently. What had Graves, no, Grindlewald, done to his man?  
Not 'his man' thought Newt, no, what he meant was 'this man'. Obviously.

Newt's attention turned out of his thoughts and back onto Credence as the young man moaned in his sleep, "Graves I-oooh!"  
The sound of Credence's exclamation sent shivers down Newt's spine. It was a moan of pure pleasure and made his blood rush down, down, down, down and damn!  
Newt groaned in despair as he realised where his blood had indeed gone to. He willed his erection to go down desperately as he shook Credence with force, in anger that the dream was overtaking Credence like this. What had Grindlewald done to him? Well, Newt supposed it was really rather obvious what Grindlewald had done.   
Newt shook his head to clear the thought.   
"Credence!!!" He shouted.  
Finally, Credence woke up with a jolt.   
"Credence, are you alright?"  
Credence whimpered in fright and clung to the older man.  
"Newt... Newt," panted Credence in terror.  
"Hey, hey, it's alright, you're safe," he soothed.  
Putting his arms awkwardly around the younger man, Newt held him in his arms.

After a couple of minutes, Credence had calmed down.  
Newt removed his arms from around Credence and looked at him, sighing thankfully now that the man had calmed down.  
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Asked Credence worriedly.  
"Oh don't worry about it, Credence," replied Newt, brushing it off easily.  
But Newt could see that the other man was white and trembling, his fingers were drifting towards his belt. Newt frowned, wondering what he was about to do.  
"Credence?" Asked Newt, concerned.  
"Here," replied Credence having taken off his belt, "there's no need to use your one to hit me."  
Newt stared at him in shock, "Credence, I will never hit you."  
"But... I-I woke you up, I d-displeased you," he whispered.  
"Credence, that does not matter, it's not your fault that you had a nightmare and you can't help it that you woke me up, we aren't aware of what we are doing during dreams."  
Credence's body seemed to crumple and he sagged against Newt with a relieved sigh.

Suddenly, a bolt of inspiration hit Newt. "Credence, do you want to see my animals?"  
The other man frowned, "um alright," he replied, sounding confused.  
Newt put his case down on the floor and opened it. Then, he stepped inside and started climbing down the ladder, "come on then," he said cheerfully as he descended.  
There was an uncertain pause from above. "Credence, it's perfectly safe, all the animals are safe, I promise."  
Another brief silence.  
And then movement as Credence came down the ladder to join Newt.

Credence looked around him.  
The place was huge! It was like a forest and it was beautiful. The leaves and branches of golden trees waved in the breeze. Fairy lights were strung up and dotted around the forest. And then, the animals!!  
He was broken out of his thoughts by Newt's beaming voice, "come on, let me show you around!"

When the tour had finished, Credence was slightly overwhelmed, it was amazing! All these beautiful creatures could fit inside the suitcase by using magic. It seemed magic really did have no boundaries.  
They'd ended up next to one of the strong oak trees and Newt sat down under it, motioning for Credence to do the same.

"Credence," began Newt, and Credence stiffened, wondering what Newt was going to say, "do you want to tell me about the dream you had? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, I'm not going to force you to say anything you don't want to, I just find that talking sometimes helps."  
Credence frowned. Maybe Newt was right. Now that he finally had someone to talk to, maybe it would help. He might as well try.  
"Um alright," whispered Credence, slightly shakily, "when I was... when Graves was supposedly h-helping me, he used to-to repay me -that was what he called it- he used to t-take me and use me and I didn't want it but at the same time it felt so g-good," Credence's tears cascaded down his face like a waterfall and Newt gently put an arm around him. "You're safe now, Credence, you can cry as much as you need."

'Safe'.  
Graves had promised him that but he didn't mean it really. The promise had fallen away like a slowly wilting flower.   
But Newt was so kind and so beautiful. It sounded like he meant it. Credence ignored all the voices in his head and leaned towards Newt, crying in earnest now.  
Newt wrapped his free arm around Credence and gently pulled him closer to him. Credence's body sagged into Newt's and he buried his head into Newt's chest and shook with tears.  
Despite his sadness and racing heart as he knew how close he was to Newt, Credence felt safer than he'd ever felt before. Credence was home


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man!!   
> I'm so so sorry that this took me so long to post (and, more to the point, sorry that it's so short!!), but I hope you all like it now that it's finished :)
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated and feel free to check out some of my other stuff! xox

Newt held Credence for a while.  
When the tall, raven-haired young man had stopped crying, Newt gently laid them both down under the beautiful tree next to them, the branches swaying in the gentle breeze.  
Taking off his rusty-blue coat, Newt handed it to Credence, smiling.  
"I can't... take your-" Credence began,  
"Yes, you can," replied Newt encouragingly, "I don't need it."  
Credence gingerly accepted the coat and laid back down, curling into the blue sea that smelled of Newt's seemingly intoxicating scent of grass, green, and home. He closed his eyes.

After a little while of companionable quiet, Newt glanced at his watch. It was later than he thought. "Credence...?" Whispered Newt. It took him only a couple of seconds to realise that Credence was sleeping peacefully.   
Newt debated what to do.  
Should he wake Credence up so that he didn't have to carry him, or should he carry him back to their quarters?  
It was out of the question to leave Credence sleeping outside as it would get cold quickly.

After a couple of minutes debating this, Newt decided he'd carry Credence back inside as he didn't want to wake Credence up after the amount of nightmares he'd had lately.  
Carefully and slowly, Newt wrapped his arms around the slim waist and lifted Credence easily into his arms.  
He was still far too thin, thought Newt worriedly, maybe he should make some cake tomorrow? Although, Newt had to admit that his cooking skills were not the best.

Newt carried the sleeping Credence 'bridal style' to their quarters and into the warmth.   
Credence's bed was further away from Newt's room so Newt decided not to take any risks and carefully laid Credence down onto his own bed.

Yawning, Newt suddenly realised just how tired he was too.   
Not really thinking straight, Newt also slid under the covers with Credence before falling deeply asleep.

When they awoke, Credence rolled over, freezing as Newt lay in front of him.   
The obscurus inside him writhed with shock and surprise and the familiar feeling of panic began creeping up his body, black tendrils beginning to snake around his wrists.

And then, Newt woke up.  
"Credence..." whispered Newt, as soon as he saw Credence's darkening, panicked eyes, "it's okay, Credence, you- you fell asleep under the tree and I carried you back here," he soothed desperately.  
Realisation dawning, Credence took a deep breath, "yes, that's it, Credence, keep breathing," Newt slowly reached for Credence's slim wrists and held them, "like this; in, out, in,out, you're doing so well."

Credence's breathing returned to normal with Newt's help and he sagged against the other man in relief, before yelping in surprise.  
"What is it?!" Asked Newt worriedly.  
"Oh no, it's nothing, only my back hurts," responded Credence, "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."  
"No, you don't have to suffer in pain," consoled Newt, "sit up with your back to me?" He suggested.

Carefully, Newt lifted up Credence's top and pulled it off, exposing his pale back. His pale back that was absolutely covered in scars etched into his skin.  
Newt tried not to gasp.  
"Oh, Credence..." he whispered.  
"Please don't, Newt," the younger man returned, "they're the past."  
"Yes, Newt agreed, "but, if they're pulling or painful then you have to let me know- I can give you a draft to take away the pain or I can put an ointment on them, it's the least I can do."  
"You don't have to-" began Credence before he was cut off my Newt,  
"Nonsense, I've got some spare ointment now I think about it, give me a second."  
With that, Newt slipped out of the covers and went to fetch the ointment.

A minute or two later, he was back.  
"Here we are!" Said Newt beaming, "let me apply it for you, it shouldn't hurt."  
"Okay," whispered Credence,  
"I promise I won't hurt you, Credence," reassured Newt, and with that, he pulled the stopper out of the little bottle and gently smeared some of the paste onto Credence's scars.  
Instead of hurting, it had the exact opposite effect and Credence sighed as all the pain seemed to melt out of his body and fly away.  
"Not so bad now, is it?" Newt smiled.  
Credence shook his head mutely, in awe of the feeling.  
Then, Newt put some more of the cream on his back, caressing and rubbing gently.   
Oh, it felt so good! Credence thought he would melt from the attention he was getting from Newt as the older man's careful, lithe fingers darted around his back, slowing down for the parts of his back with the most scars.   
Credence groaned in pleasure, sending shivers up Newt's spine.  
Unconsciously, Credence moved backwards slightly, pressing against Newt's chest who lovingly wrapped his arms around Credence's torso.  
"Is this alright?" Newt asked,  
"Perfect," replied Credence, practically moulding into the perfect shape against Newt.

Then quickly, Credence twisted around to face Newt and caught his lips in a sweet kiss.  
It was so fast that Newt didn't have time to process what had just happened, let alone respond.  
Credence blushed as red as a beetroot and moved to stand up but Newt's arms around him stopped him.  
"I-I'm S-sorry N-n-Newt," stammered Credence worriedly.

Newt's only response was to pull Credence down fully on top of him, tangling them both in the bed sheets. Newt moved Credence's long hair out the way and, cupping his face with his hands, whispered, "I liked it. A lot."  
Newt kissed him.


End file.
